What Could Have Been
by Mysticnight
Summary: Due to a misunderstanding, Kagome uses her one and only wish on the finally completed jewel. Come see what could have happened if things had been different.
1. Default Chapter

~What Could Have Been~  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, But oh how I wish I did * ^_____^ *  
  
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The tranquil night sky was dark and beautiful. Soft clouds make their lazy way across the sky and occasionally obscuring the moon. A mild breeze blows through the dark green trees and all is quiet. Until now....  
  
"HOW COULD YOU!!!" a very angry Kagome yells as she stomps purposefully across the grass. She makes her way to the well that is visible by moonlight in the distance. Tears run unheeded down her face as she fumes with righteous anger.  
  
'I cannot believe he had the GALL to see her and then to ask me what's wrong. As if nothing at all was the problem.' she absently wipes away some tears from her cheek. 'And then to top it all off he doesn't even wait till we are back one whole day before he makes up some LAME excuse and then runs off to see HER again.' More tears make there way slowly down her face. 'Well, if that is the way he wants it after all this time we have been together, after all we have done for each other, after all we have been though.' She continues towards the well, her anger clouding her vision. 'Then so be it. If that is what he wants, then that is what he will have.'  
  
She stops before the well and pulls the fully recovered Shikon no Tama from around her neck. The pale glowing light from the jewel illuminates her tear stained face, as she looks down at it in her open hands. "And to think, I was beginning to truly believe he loved me, baka Kagome."  
  
She fails to see a swiftly approaching light heading in her direction.  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Back at the village....  
  
"SANGO!!!" Miroku yells into the night. "SHIPPOU!!!" He calls as he starts to walk away from the village and into the fringe of the forest. "KAGOME!!!" Now he is beginning to get a little worried as he continues to go deeper into the quiet woods. 'Where is everyone? Why did they leave me asleep at Kaede's and go off without me? Not that they really need my protection or anything, but Inu Yasha will be furious with me if he finds out I let Kagome go out on her own' He chuckles to himself. 'Well, maybe not totally alone. She does have Sango and Shippou with her I'm sure.'  
  
He finds himself walking towards the hot spring and quietly creeps in that direction. Laughter and lots of splashing can be heard coming from that way. A smile slowly makes its way onto his face and gets bigger and bigger as he realizes that with Sango thinking him asleep and at the village, and no Inu Yasha to pound him for going near Kagome. He will have an unrestricted view of a pair of bathing beauties and non the wiser.  
  
He rubs his hands with glee and slowly crawls up to the last tree near the waters edge. He carefully leans to the left to peek around the trunk, and is just about to get a look at paradise when.....*SPLASH*  
  
A very wet Miroku stumbles out from behind his poorly chosen tree, with a bucket seated firmly on his head....*Twitch* Sango and Shippou take one look at the completely drenched monk and fall over laughing.  
  
After getting control of her self, Sango walks out of the hot spring wearing one of Kagome's spare bathing suits and takes Miroku a dry towel. "Serves you right Hoshi" Sango exclaims. "Trying to spy on us like that. I knew Kagome's idea would come in handy eventually."  
  
As Miroku dries himself off, Sango explains how Kagome and her had filled buckets full of water and placed them at strategic locations around the spring. Setting them on low branches and running a wire from the bucket to the base of the tree, so that when a certain unsuspecting pervert tried to get a peek all he would get would be a soaking instead.  
  
Miroku with his MOST hurt and innocent look grabs Sango's hands as she sits down on a log to begin drying her hair. "But all I was trying to do was make sure everyone was okay and not in need of help." He exclaims while going down on his knees before her. "If I had known that I would be accused of such a falsehood I would not have left my much needed sleep and come to see to your heath." Fakes tiredness in one of his arms and lets it drop beside her.  
  
Sango blushes a very bright shade of red as she realizes how close to him she is and also a little embarrassed for playing such a mean joke on him. 'He could be telling the truth.' she thinks to herself. 'I mean we didn't even leave a note or anything.' Deciding that maybe he was actually innocent this time she opens her mouth to tell him that she is sorry, but instead of an apology out comes a scream of outrage and anger as she feels a hand caressing her butt through the thin fabric of the swimsuit.  
  
Miroku goes flying high through the air as Sango pulls her giant boomerang from out of nowhere and hits him as hard as she can. "MIROKU NO HENTEI!!!!" Sango screams after the swiftly fading monk. Sango grabs her things and heads back to the village muttering angrily under her breath "How could I even THINK that he was innocent." A very surprised and quiet Shippou follows closely behind her.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Near the God Tree.....  
  
"You will always have a place in my heart." Inu Yasha whispers softly into the ear of the raven-haired miko in front of him. He slowly caresses the soft, silky hair under his hand as he kisses her a final goodbye with his lips. "I will miss you, but I hope you understand" Kikyo leans into his embrace as she listens to the last words of her love. Tears making there way slowly down her cheeks. She looks up into Inu Yasha's face and sees the pain he is suffering, dulling his beautiful golden eyes.  
  
"I knew from the moment I was raised again, when I had that girls full soul in this shell of a body. I knew at that time she was yours. Heart, mind and soul, and I could feel with my borrowed heart that you returned that love." Kikyo lifts her hand to touch the handsome face before her. "Even though I still want to take you to hell with me...." Kikyo grabs a hold of his white hair and roughly pulls him towards her.."I know now from all that has happened, it was not your fault nor mine." She releases her death grip on his shining locks and smiles for the very first time. "I thank you for telling me, even though it hurts to know I have lost you again. But at least it's to myself in a later time."  
  
Inu Yasha holds Kikyo tightly to his chest and kisses her tenderly on the top of her head. Kikyo takes a deep breath and resigns herself to her fate, knowing that she has had the greatest gift of life 'Love' and that now she will finally be at peace. Kikyo closes her eyes for the last time and waits. "Rest in peace, Kikyo" Inu Yasha whispers as a single tear falls down his face. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and plunges his hand into her chest.  
  
Bright light fills the clearing as all the stolen souls start to be released from the miko's body. Inu Yasha stumbles back and falls to his knees. Tears continuously fall from his eyes and onto the ground as he makes himself watch Kikyo's body disintegrate back into earth and bones. He shrugs out of his fire-rat coat and spreads it out on the ground. He then begins to slowly, reverently place her remains inside so they can be transported back to the village. Inu Yasha looks up as one very bright soul circles the patch of ground that was the miko and then rises to fly swiftly back to its owner.  
  
After Inu Yasha bundles the bones together, he ties the ends and carrying it safely in his arms, runs as fast as he can to the village and his one true love. He follows the guiding light that he knows is the rest of Kagome's soul as it returns to its rightful place.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
(A/N: Well, what did you think??? I wonder where this fanfic is going... I intended to start it another way, but it seems to want to begin here. Ohh well.....I am sure it will tell me where to go. So review, review, review..etc, etc, etc, etc... blah, blah....OKAY, OKAY!!! I'M GOING... sheesh ^.^ ) 


	2. The Beginning of the End

~What Could Have Been~  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own *sobs* any of these characters, But I still have my BUNNIES!!!! ^.^  
  
*Chapter 2* ~The Beginning of the End~  
  
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Sango storms past Kaede as she reaches the hut and walks towards the back room. Kaede smiles to herself as she catches a few mumbled and angry words that Sango is muttering to herself about a certain perverted monk as she walks past. "Kaede, is it okay if I change in the next room? Kagome isn't sleeping in there still is she?" Sango asks Kaede as she places her hand on the door latch. "You can use the room if you want, Kagome awoke and left a while back."  
  
Sango is a bit taken aback at this remark. "Did she go with Inu Yasha?" She asks a bit worriedly. Kaede shakes her head sadly "No, she awoke a little bit after you left for your bath. Said she needed time to herself to think." Kaede frowns "Was it Inu Yasha that made her look so sad?" As Sango continues to hold her hand on the door latch, her mind wanders back to just a few hours ago...  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
(Flashback).. Kagome screamed at the top of her lungs to the swiftly retreating back of Inu Yasha, as he disappeared into the woods "COME BACK!!!" Kagome fell to her knees crying. I walked up, knelt down next my best friend and hugged her tightly around the shoulders. "He will be back. I am sure of it." I said confidently and gave Kagome a comforting smile. "He said he needed to clear up a few things, to my way of thinking, that is not a goodbye." Kagome looked up into my smiling face. "You are right Sango. I shouldn't be expecting him to just abandon me, even though our quest for the Shikon no Tama is now complete." Kagome gave me a warm smile and held the completed jewel up before us. "We still have a wish to make."  
  
As Miroku, Kagome, Shippou, Kirara and myself were making our way back to Kaede's village, Kagome had made an excuse about needing to get an item she had left behind at the last battle. I offered to go with her but she had told us to keep heading for the village and she would catch up in a moment. I had smiled and was glad to see Kagome back in better spirits. We continued on to the village as instructed, but not too long after we had reached Kaede's hut and settled down with some warm tea, then Kagome had entered looking like her world had ended.  
  
Everyone was shocked into silence when we saw Kagome enter. We had just left her not a little time ago and she had been happy. What could have happened when she went to get that forgotten object? Or was it something else? Only one thing could have affected Kagome this fast and with such an emotional change. What had Inu Yasha done?  
  
With cries of concern we had jumped up and were trying to offer her comfort and support, but she had waved it all away. Explaining that she was tired and was going to the back room to catch up on a little sleep. Kagome, true to her words, had headed for the backroom with her sleeping bag and closed the door quietly behind her.  
  
As the rest of us resumed our seats around the fire, I filled Kaede in on our final adventure and the now completed jewel. While we had been talking Miroku had fallen asleep and was drooling onto the sleeve of his robe. Not wanting to disturb him with our conversation, I told Kaede that Shippou and myself were going to the hot spring to get cleaned up. As we departed Kaede took out her herbs and started to sort though them.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Sango walks into the room to change and begins to mull over everything that has happened. She decides that after putting on her clothes she is going to find Kagome and they are going to have a nice long chat. Smiling to herself she quickly changes her bathing suit for her normal clothes before a perverted monk can reach the hut. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
(flashback).. As Kagome lay down on the floor in her sleeping bag, she could hear the sounds of quiet conversation continue in the front room. A tear began to works it's way slowly down the bridge of her nose and fell to the wooden floor, quickly followed by others as she remembered back to what she had witnessed in the forest.  
  
While looking into the sky to try and figure out the time Kagome happened to spot Kikyo's Soul Demon's flying over the god tree out of the corner of her eye. Making an excuse to her friends and telling them to go ahead to the village, she made her way quietly towards the scene she feared most in her heart.  
  
She carefully walked downwind and tiptoed quietly up to a stand of trees to see what was happening. As she got closer she could see Inu Yasha talking to someone next to the god tree, and it didn't take much imagination for her to realize whom it was. Kikyo came into view suddenly as she walked up to Inu Yasha and placed her hands upon his cheeks. Kagome's eyes went wide as Inu Yasha closed his eyes and leaned into Kikyo's touch.  
  
Not waiting to see anymore of her loves betrayal, Kagome had walked with a heavy heart back to the village. When she reached the hut and walked inside to the happy scene of contentment, she didn't want to disturb her friends, so she waved them all away and told them about being tired.  
  
After thinking about all they had been through, all the different trials they had to have faced, Kagome started to get angry. Deciding a walk was in order, she walked out of the room to find Miroku asleep and Kaede next to the fire. As Kaede looked up Kagome mumbled a quiet "I am going for a walk, I need to think a little." And with that she walked out the door and into the forest.  
  
As Kagome walked under the dark trees she found herself getting angrier rather then sadder over Inu Yasha's betrayal. "Kikyo was his first love, I am just the reincarnate. Why should I have expected that he would give up Kikyo all because the quest was over" and with this realization she decided that maybe if she hadn't of come along then none of this would have happened. She would still be in her time, not missing school and having her grandpa make up lame excuses for her.  
  
"HOW COULD YOU!!!" Kagome screamed as she vented her rage and anger into the night.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
(A/N: Now you all know how it came about, but you still do not know what is going to happen.... See I told you this story has a mind of it's own. I do promise that the story will continue in the present instead of the past, I just needed to get that bit out of the way. I hope everyone likes this story and will give many much needed reviews....Hint, Hint.... Until we meet again *Vanishes in a flash of white light* 


End file.
